Cape Town — A renegade soldier has made an attempt on the life of Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaoré, reports Fasozine.

The attack took place on Friday night. Fasozine reports official sources as saying that a former member of the presidential guard, Romuald Tuina, was shot dead in a gun battle with security forces. Tuina was wanted for crimes including a bank robbery in which he allegedly made off with millions of West African francs (several thousand U.S. dollars).

The fact that a wanted soldier could successfully penetrate presidential security has raised concerns about the efficiency of the country's security.

Before this incident, Tuina had reportedly been in hiding in a unnamed neighbouring country. The ministry of justice, in a televised broadcast, revealed that a prison certificate of discharge issued from a foreign country was found on Tuina.

Compaoré came to power in 1987 in coup in which then-president Thomas Sankara was assassinated. Compaoré has insisted that Sankara's death was an accident, despite the circumstances surrounding Sankara's death never being investigated.

As head of state, Compaoré reversed many of the Sankara's policies, claiming that his policies were a "rectification" of the Burkinabé revolution.

Adapted and translated from the original French by Michael Tantoh.